HP Mini 100e Review

Educators in the market for affordable PCs optimized for the classroom should take note of the HP Mini 100e. Starting at $299 (sold wholesale only), this netbook portable is designed for kindergarten through grade 6. It lacks special features found on pricier educational laptops like the Intel-powered Classmate PC, a convertible tablet notebook with oodles of bundled educational software and a steeper price tag ($450 to $600). The 100e delivers strong performance, however, and, much more important, it sells for a lot less, which may be a bigger selling point for school districts strapped for cash.

The no-nonsense design of the Mini 100e calls to mind the similarly rugged Intel Classmate PC. Its chalky white clamshell body contrasts pleasantly with the ashen keyboard. The plastic covering is lightly textured, giving the machine a no-slip feel. The blank lid allows schools to add their own adhesive logos or designs. A gray rubber-grip carrying handle, protruding from the screen hinge, is an ideal feature on a kid-friendly netbook, though it adds a couple of inches onto the footprint of the body. The Mini 100e’s 1.6x10.9x9.9-inch frame is chunky compared with the average netbook, but its bulk is pretty standard for a classroom PC. At 3.2 pounds, the system is heavy yet portable.

The lid of the Mini 100e is unadorned, for the most part. We like the soft-touch handle, which should prevent at least a few falls while in transit with kids.

The Mini 100e offers a considerable selection of ports, considering the age of the intended user. Included are a power port, a Kensington lock slot, two USB ports, a VGA-out port, an Ethernet jack, microphone and headphone jacks, and a two-format (SD, MultiMediaCard) flash-card slot. HP also squeezed in a modem jack, in case students without a broadband connection need to bring the Mini 100e home. There's even wireless (the 802.11b/g flavor), but the system lacks a Bluetooth radio. Teachers can easily monitor Internet usage from the front of the classroom, thanks to an LED (located on the lid) that lights up when the Mini 100e is connected to the Net.

Along the left side, you'll find the power jack, a VGA output, one USB port, and a jack for a dial-up modem.

The unadorned deck was, without a doubt, designed for children. The Chiclet-style keyboard is spill-proof, just like the Classmate PC’s. The keys are decently sized for small hands, and may feel a tad cramped to an adult. The key plunge is a little shallow, but the keys are virtually silent when struck. Most important, this keyboard feels sturdy enough to withstand rough treatment from a child.

We like the look of the simple keyboard and touch pad areas. The chassis is clean, uncluttered, and ideal for the classroom.

Slightly sunken into the palm rests is a small touch pad that features a light, pebbly texture. It responds well to finger taps and scrolling but does not accept other multi-gesture input. The dual mouse buttons, which feel a little flimsy, have a deep plunge and are also responsive. (Double-tapping the upper-left corner of the touch pad disables touch functions.)

Above the deck is a 10.1-inch wide-screen LCD, surrounded by wide bezels. Thanks to the screen's LED backlighting and matte finish, the picture looks bright, and the colors are rich on this 1,024x600-pixel display. However, the vertical viewing angle is tight, with the picture looking washed out when viewed more than 20 degrees off of the sweet spot. The screen handled video admirably; streaming online videos (via Hulu and YouTube) played surprisingly smoothly for this class of netbook. We noticed occasional skips during playback, but we’ve seen higher-end netbooks struggle harder with Flash-based video. The speakers are strong, too, although the audio quality is poor. Overall, this PC will suffice for basic classroom media-playback needs.

The Mini 100e also features a VGA-resolution Webcam, embedded into the display's upper bezel. We snapped a few photos using the Webcam and noted a grainy quality to them. Skin tones looked accurate, if a bit washed-out. When we recorded a short video, both slow and fast motions looked blurry during playback. On the plus side, the integrated microphone is sensitive and picks up voices from across a small room.

The VGA Webcam is perfect for Skyping with other classrooms around the world. We like that it has an indiator light to let students know when the camera is on.

The system is built around a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 processor, which is a slight step up from the Atom N450 CPU that we see in many netbooks. The rest of the Mini 100e’s specifications (1GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive, the Starter Edition of Windows 7) suggest the most basic of netbooks. Still, the system felt snappy as we surfed the Web, and it held its own on several of our benchmark tests.

To evaluate the Mini 100e’s processor performance, we ran three tests. The first, our iTunes test, requires the CPU to convert 11 MP3 files into AAC format. The Mini 100e managed a time of 19 minutes and 22 seconds, which is close to the average netbook’s time and much better than the Classmate PC’s 24:13. On our next test, in which we encode a video clip using the Windows Media Encoder application, the Mini 100e encoded our standard video file in 25:51, which is brutally slow compared with larger laptops. Among netbooks, however, this is close to the average of 25:16. (The Classmate PC clocked an even slower 33:07.) For our final processor test, we ran Cinbench 10, which taxes all available cores on the CPU. The Mini 100e’s score on this test, 870, edged out the netbook average (835) and whipped the Classmate PC’s pitiful 478. While these scores are not jaw-droppingly fast, they are the best we've seen for a student-focused netbook. And if you might think kids don't need much speed, we encourage you to sit down with the nearest kindergartner and gauge his or her patience while waiting for software to catch up to them.

On the right are the headphone and mic jacks, the SD/MMC card reader, a USB port, an Ethernet jack, and a Kensington lock slot.

To evaluate the 3D-graphics capabilities of the machine's integrated Intel GMA HD graphics chipset, we ran our 3DMark06 test. At its native resolution (1,024x768), the Mini 100e yielded a weak score on this test (158), which is almost identical what we saw on the Classmate PC (150). This is disappointing, since students—especially very young students—will often use Flash-based software for educational purposes. On the other hand, no other child-focused netbook offers better graphics performance, so the bar is pretty low. We were able to fire off a couple rounds of JumpStart without too much trouble, though sometimes we found ourselves waiting for the avatar to catch up to the directions we'd given.

Our strenuous battery test, in which we stream video wirelessly, proved too taxing for the Mini 100e’s three-cell battery. The system lasted a measly 2 hours and 18 minutes on a charge. Even the Classmate PC lasted slightly longer than that (2:44). We expect netbook batteries to last closer to four hours. Then again, if this machine is to be used mostly in an elementary-school classroom setting, an hour is probably plenty long, since it would likely be brought out for one subject and then put away for charging for further use later.

The LED light on the lid lets teachers know when their students are online.

The Mini 100e comes with HP’s standard one-year limited warranty. It also includes bundled software that educators will find useful. For instance, Computrace tracks and helps recover stolen laptops, while Microsoft Security Essentials provides antivirus and malware protection. The system also comes with the Starter version of Microsoft Office 2010, Evernote (for taking notes), Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Live Photo Gallery, and ArcSoft's Webcam-utility suite. Instead of Windows 7 Starter, HP can also preload the system with either Windows XP or SUSE Linux Enterprise 11. Notably absent from the system is a robust security suite that allows teachers to control a child’s Internet activity. Also absent are educational games and learning tools like those found on the Classmate PC.

The version of the Mini 100e we looked at is the most basic one in terms of hardware. A $329 configuration is also available; it has a 250GB hard drive. Other upgradable features include a six-cell battery and active hard drive protection. (The latter protects the drive from damage if the Mini 100e is bumped and dropped.) We would have liked to see both of these features come standard for the price.

At a time when budgets are under severe pressure, educators may look favorably on the HP Mini 100e’s decent performance results and moderate $299 starting price. It lacks the child-centric software of other classroom PCs, but the top-notch speed, along with extras like the spill-proof keyboard and Internet indicator light, make it a good choice for classroom use by kids, most of whom lack the patience required of slower netbooks, and who are, by nature, a little messy and sometimes off-task.

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